Today is the World Water Day, held every year on 22 March since 1993 to celebrate water and to raise awareness of the lack of access to safe water for a large part of the world population. It is also the start of the UN 2023 WATER CONFERENCE (22-24 March), “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unite the world around solving the water and sanitation crisis” (citation from World Water Day). I am th ...[Read More]
EGU General Assembly for Newcomers … or those who are coming back to it
I am finally going back to Vienna this year for the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly (GA) in April, for the first time since 2019. Strangely, I am now with this feeling of “finally back ‘home’ at the Austria Center Vienna”. I have been asking myself what is going to be different after these four years, who I will meet there, if the city has changed, which places I want to see agai ...[Read More]
The mystery of shared first authorship
Have you heard of the option to have two first authors? Or seen the little star that indicates that both first authors have equally contributed to the work? I got to know the concept many years ago, without having ever used it. Now, one of my PhD students is working on a shared paper. My first reaction as a supervisor was: let’s have a quick look on the current rules about shared first autho ...[Read More]
Some first impressions on the first hybrid EGU General Assembly
The first hybrid EGU General Assembly (23–27 May 2022) is over. What a great achievement for the organizers and programme committee who managed to bring the community back to the face-to-face world of scientific conferences, while also offering the opportunity to those not able to travel to Vienna to attend it virtually. We attended the meeting in different ways. Here below our first quick thought ...[Read More]
Hydrologists celebrate Earth Day 2022
Today is Earth Day. As hydrologists, we work closely with what covers about 71% of the Earth’s surface: water! How do you feel when surrounded by Earth’s nature? How would you describe the contribution of your research on the water cycle to the wellbeing of our planet? If you should prepare a warning sign to join people marching in the streets on this special day, what would you write? ...[Read More]
Hydrological modelling in times of flooding
What a strange summer! Depending on where you live, you might currently be suffering from heat. In Switzerland, we are suffering from an exceptionally rainy and stormy weather situation, with high to very high flood danger issued for many major rivers and lakes (see warning map above, taken from the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN on Wednesday 14 July). For certain rivers, controlled flood ...[Read More]
Slow science in times of COVID
One of the earliest events of vEGU2021 was a debate on slow science organized by three early career scientists, with four invited speakers, Withney Behr, Valeria Cigala, Stuart Lane and Doerthe Tetzlaff. Before following this debate at vEGU21, I only knew the above door posting (on Stuart’s office door) and did not dig more into what is actually behind the movement – in my understanding it was sim ...[Read More]
Chatting about science and hydrology at EGU GA 2020
We all woke up that Monday morning 4 May 2020 (at home rather than in Vienna) with mixed feelings about what to expect from this year’s exceptional EGU GA: Sharing Geoscience Online. For some of us, it was the first time we were entering a chat room and, for many, the first time we were going to chat about our scientific work online. If you were an author, a convener or a curious attendee, that mo ...[Read More]